cliff. the federal reserve released its latest beige book economic report on wednesday. the document is based on surveys of businesses. it's compiled by 12 federal bank districts. it mentions weaker conditions in new york and some other districts hit by hurricane sandy late october despite a moderate improvement overall. on consumer spending, most districts saw an increase at a moderate pace and they also gave mostly upbeat expectations for the holiday sales season. on housing, the report says the market continued to improve across most districts. selling prices were steady or rising. on employment, over half the districts reported improvements. but in manufacturing, 7 of the 12 districts reported that activity slowed or declined somewhat compared to the previous report. >>> on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is gaining ground against the yen this morning. dollar/yen is fetching 82.04-08 at the moment. analysts say concerns over the u.s. economic outlook eased slightly after u.s. pres